Chapter 49: The Horde Leader Part 3

They had to find the second exit. Or second entrance. Whatever. Hordak would have placed it close to his office so he could flee in an emergency. And for convenience. But would it have been in his office? The Horde leader had trapped the stairs after fleeing his office, blowing the entire lower floor away. Would he have done that if his secret exit was in the office? Would he have cut off his own escape route?

Seacat didn't think so. On the other hand, he had been focused on whatever had been going on with the runestone.

"Is the second exit upstairs?" the Horde princess asked.

"Was this area usually under guard?" Seacat asked instead of answering.

"Uh… there were always two guards outside the room. In the hall."

"That means Hordak could've slipped in here and reached his office without being noticed by guards," Seacat thought out loud. She looked around.

A loud crash made her jerk. She turned her head, but the princess was closer to the remains of the door. "The bow of the airship collapsed. The fire's spreading."

Well, Seacat had known they didn't have much time. But where would the exit be? Hordak had charges prepared here. Would he have done that if he had an emergency exit here? It would've led to him being stuck in the office.

She couldn't tell. "Knock on the walls, see if anything rings hollow."

"You don't know?"

Seacat hissed: "Just do it! If it's not here, we'll have to climb up to the office."

The princess looked at the two Horde soldiers she carried, then put them down and started knocking on the walls. Seacat turned her head to listen, but she didn't catch any different sound.

And the fire was now almost to the room. Damn. That left the staircase or the office. The staircase…

She went to the stairs and looked at the hole left by the explosion. It didn't look like there was anything below - no hidden tunnel. That left…

"We'll have to climb."

"With the wounded?" The princess sounded shocked.

"I'll get up. You hand me the wounded," Seacat said. She hesitated a moment, then lowered Adora on the ground. This was their only chance to escape. If the princess tried to stab them in the back, they'd all die anyway.

She pressed a kiss on Adora's forehead, grabbed her sword, then jumped. Her claws sank into the back of the staircase, and she quickly scaled the wall to the undamaged portion of the staircase.

"Alright. Throw me the wounded."

"My guys first!"

Seacat rolled her eyes. "Yes."

"Catch!"

She caught the first wounded and put him down on the floor. "Next!"

The two others followed. She resisted the urge to stack them.

Then the princess lifted Adora. And groaned. "She's heavier than I expected!"

"Not too heavy for you," Seacat spat. "Throw her."

The princess threw Adora. Seacat caught her with both arms, then stumbled back a few steps to compensate without dropping her. "Oof!"

A moment later, two pincers latched on the edge of the stairs - and the concrete started crumbling under the pressure.

Seacat froze for a moment. If she let the Horde princess drop… But she was already moving, cursing herself.

Despite the princess's frantic efforts, her pincers couldn't get a grip - they crushed the concrete to powder instead, and she started to fall.

Seacat jumped, reaching for the pincers, but missed.

Then she saw the tail whip by. And her hand shot out, the other going for the remains of the handrail.

She screamed as the full mass of the princess threatened to pull her arm out of its socket, and the railing groaned under their combined weight, but she managed to hold on to the Horde scum.

"Ah… Oh. Thanks."

"Don't talk!" Seacat spat. "Climb!"

"I'm trying! I'm a hugger, not a climber!"

"I don't care. Get your fat ass up here!" Seacat clenched her teeth and tried to find purchase with her feet to pull the idiot up. She scrambled, her claws piercing but wrecking the concrete until she finally got a grip on it and could use her leg muscles to help pulling.

Groaning, she heaved and pushed and pulled until the princess could grab onto the handrail.

Then it was over in a second - the dolt was far too strong and easily pulled herself and Seacat up on the stairs with a smooth movement. "Thanks, Cat! I thought I was a goner."

Seacat wheezed in response. Before she could give the princess a piece of her mind, she heard another crash from below, and a moment later, flames shot into the room they had just left.

Damn. "Grab your soldiers and follow me!" she yelled, already lifting up Adora.

If the secret exit wasn't in Hordak's office, all of them would die.

But the staircase was filling with smoke - they didn't have much time. Unless… No. Even trying to seal off the stairs wouldn't work. Not with the office's windows smashed and broken.

She hurried up the stairs, banging on the walls as she passed them. Solid. Solid. Solid. Solid.

On the top of the stairs, she whirled and knocked on the walls there. If there was an exit… No, Nothing here either.

"So, where's the exit?" The Horde princess sounded anxious.

"Has to be in the office. Hordak would've liked appearing in there without anyone noticing." Seacat entered the office and looked around - as much as she could, with smoke filling half of it.

Half?

"I have to say, I don't see any entrance or exit here - and wow! Who wrecked this?"

"Quiet!" Seacat hissed.

"What?"

Seacat growled and looked around. The smoke should've filled the entire office by now. So, it had to escape somehow. But where?

She walked around, checking the ceiling. There! There was a gap through which the smoke went out. Air ducts, at the least. Hidden ones. And how better to hide an exit than to build it together with air ducts? "Here!" she yelled before coughing. "Smash the ceiling here!"

"The ceiling?"

"Just do it!" Another cough made her double over.

"Are you alright?"

She glared at the moron. Why wasn't the princess affected by the smoke? Some bug thing? "Smash. The. Ceiling. Here!"

"Alright, alright!"

The princess put the soldiers down and smashed her pincers into the ceiling. Concrete dust fell down, and pieces of the ceiling flew every which way.

And the gap turned into a hole that attracted even more smoke.

Without being told to, the princess widened the hole, then stepped back when a steel platform fell down, missing her by inches. "Ow."

That must have been the mechanism Hordak used to come and go.

"We could've used that."

"It probably broke in the battle." Seacat jumped, dug her claws into the concrete and pulled herself up. Yes, there was a tunnel. Which was filling with smoke now that it was open. "Hand me the others. Hurry!" She coughed again. Damn.

And the princess took her sweet time handing her the wounded - Adora was last. Seacat muttered a curse under her breath and turned before the princess climbed up after her. "Hurry!"

And she was off, running down the tunnel. After twenty yards, she reached a door. Locked. She slashed her claws against the lock. Open. "Come on!" She waved the princess through, then pulled the door closed. That should stop the smoke. A little.

The stairs led up. And up. The yard hadn't been that deep below the surface - they had to be in a building. At least the air was better. But hauling Adora that high up… Seacat's legs were tiring. Her body was tiring.

She gritted her teeth and forced herself to keep running. The air was getting worse with each step. Even the princess was now coughing.

There! The top of the stairs! And another door. Seacat didn't bother with testing the lock - she slashed the door to pieces and kicked the remains away. "Finally!"

They were in another corridor. Empty. But if Hordak arrived through this, there would be… ah. More stairs. Leading up to the roof and down to the ground. Seacat went down. The air would be better there. The princess followed her.

"Where are we?"

Seacat rolled her eyes instead of answering. This was Horde territory.

"Oh, I know! This is the spare warehouse! In case the yard couldn't store all supplies!"

Seacat clenched her teeth. Who cared any more? Another flight of stairs - she stumbled and almost lost Adora but managed to keep her balance.

"Careful!"

What was with the Horde princess? They were enemies, damn it! Not that Seacat would complain about not having to fight the bug princess. Once had been enough.

She huffed and took a few deep breaths after reaching the ground floor. "We've made it."

"I guess so. Now, where was the infirmary?"

"Barracks," she told the princess.

"Thank you! So I…" She trailed off. "Ah."

Seacat glared at her. "The Horde's finished. Hordak is dead. Shadow Weaver is dead. Your airship is destroyed. You don't have enough enhanced engine bombs left and can't make new ones."

The princess stared at her. "But…"

"How long do you think you'll last if you keep this up? And who's going to lead the Horde now?"

"Uh… the most senior Force Captain, I think. That would be… no, he's dead. Or… no, she's been demoted. And… no, deserted. That leaves…" She blinked again. "Me? In this area?"

"Are you asking me?"

"No, no. I guess it is me." The princess looked, well, almost shocked.

"And you want to fight on? Lose more people?" Seacat scoffed.

"No, but…"

"What 'but'?"

"I only have your word that Hordak and Shadow Weaver are dead!"

Great.

"Well, then best start looking for them. After you got your friends to the infirmary, I think."

"Uh…"

Seacat turned and opened the door to the road outside. She had to head to their warehouse - that was the first rally spot. The most obvious. On the other hand, the last location she had seen the others was the airship yard. Which also was the last location the others had seen Adora and herself.

And she was sure they wouldn't leave without them. But Adora was helpless. And she could see a lot of Horde soldiers gathered around the spot. And her friends would've sent someone back to the warehouse. That was just common sense.

Clenching her teeth, she started walking towards their former base.

"The infirmary is the other way."

She rolled her eyes at the comment and turned to stare at the Horde princess. "That's the Horde infirmary."

"There's another one? I mean, yes. And you aren't Horde… Right."

Seacat nodded sharply and started walking again.

"Uh…"

"What?"

"How many of you are here?"

She gritted her teeth. "Why should I tell you?"

"Good question. I was just curious."

Yeah, right. "Goodbye."

Seacat kept walking this time. The air was bad, though not as bad as inside the yard. And it wasn't as if the Fright Zone had good, clean air, anyway. She ran into a troop of Horde soldiers but they didn't pay her any mind - just another Horde soldier dragging a wounded away.

She still held her breath until the scum had turned the corner. It wasn't too far to the warehouse - but it wasn't a short trip, either. And she was already tired. Maybe she should take a break...

No! Adora needed help - she was breathing evenly, but she was still hurting. Seacat could bear this. For as long as she needed to!

She kept going, ignoring the roaring fire behind her or the screams that occasionally reached her. All that counted was Adora. And reaching the warehouse.

Which she did. She kicked the door open and entered. "Hello?"

"Seacat?"

That was Entrapta! "Yes?"

The princess appeared on the catwalk above her, then lowered herself down with her hair. "And Adora! We were so worried!"

Seacat found herself picked up in a hair-hug. "Uh…" And squeezed. "Ack."

"Oh, sorry! But I was worried as well. The others told me you had vanished in a fire. I was here, working on modifying my speaker bots into search bots." She blinked as she set Seacat down. "Should I reverse that? We still need to counter orders Shadow Weaver could give, right? If she betrays us, I mean."

"Shadow Weaver and Hordak are dead," Seacat told her.

"Oh."

Seacat gently laid Adora down and checked her wounds. Still the same. But she was breathing and not bleeding out. Or otherwise… "Where are the others? At the yard?"

"Looking for you. But the fire was too dangerous, so they couldn't enter the yard. Oh, and Glimmer was hurt! She's here!"

"Hurt?" Seacat clenched her teeth. Hurt was better than dead, but… what kind of wound would keep Glimmer from coming for Adora? Seacat was quite sure that the princess would teleport into fire for her friends.

"She caught a blow to the head," Entrapta explained. "Nothing broken, but she's sleeping."

Or unconscious. "Alright. Take care of Adora. I'll fetch the others," Seacat said.

"I could use the speaker bots!" Entrapta said. "Instead of broadcasting Shadow Weaver's talk with us about killing Hordak, I could just tell the others that they can return!"

And alert everyone to their presence? But the Horde princess was already aware of them. And finding anyone, especially their friends in disguise, in this chaos… Seacat smiled. "Yes. But we'll be sneaky."

"Sneaky?" Entrapta stared at her.

"Sneaky." Seacat nodded. "We'll have to make the bots say something only our friends will understand."

"Oh!" The princess smiled then frowned. "And what would that be? We didn't agree on a code phrase or encryption."

Seacat wasn't quite sure what encryption meant, but she understood the gist of it. "I know," she said. "But we can be creative. Where can we record a message?"

"Oh! Bert! Come here!"

One of Entrapta's new bots waddled over. It looked like a barrel on legs, about as tall as Entrapta.

"Just talk into the opening here," Entrapta explained. "I can handle the rest."

Seacat nodded. "Alright." She took a deep breath. "Team Archer and Team Marine, relocate to the assigned warehouse to handle the bots and the wounded. We have new orders to deploy."

"And they'll understand that?" Entrapta frowned. "Oh. Team Archer is Bow. And Marine is Mermista!"

"Yes." Seacat nodded.

As the bot waddled outside, on its way to the closest roof, Seacat hoped that their friends were listening.

Then all she could do was wait. And stare at two unconscious friends.

"They're alright, I think. Just need to rest. At least my prototype scanner doesn't show anything serious, though it's a prototype, and I haven't gotten nearly enough data to properly calibrate it."

And listen to Entrapta explain her technology.

"Though I've got the basics down - I think so, at least. When you get down to the basics, people are just like animals or machines; just different sorts of mechanics."

Seacat frowned. "But both have magic." Hell, Adora was magic when she was She-Ra. Or should be.

"Right. That might complicate matters." Entrapta nodded. Then her eyes widened. "Which means they could actually be hurt!"

Damn. "They look OK," Seacat quickly said. "Adora healed me, but that exhausted her." Not that the various wounds and bruises would have helped with that…

"But Glimmer took a blow to the head before she could exhaust herself!" Entrapta's hair started poking and prodding the unconscious princess. "Glimmer?"

The princess groaned and turned her head away.

"She did that before," Entrapta said.

Seacat couldn't tell if that was a good or bad sign. But it made her worry all the same. She didn't know anything about magic powers and injuries. Though Mermista and Brian Boy should know about that, having grown up with magic and Glimmer, respectively.

They wouldn't have left Glimmer with Entrapta if she was in real danger, would they?

Seacat clenched her teeth. Of course they would have done that if they thought they had to save Adora and Seacat.

She stood. "I'm going to take a look. See if I can find them."

"Oh." Entrapta looked at her. "You think they need help. Help we can't give them."

Yes. Seacat would have said so, if Entrapta didn't look like she blamed herself for this. "I just want to get out of the Fright Zone as soon as we can. I ran into the Horde princess on the way out of the yard."

"Oh? Did you kill her?"

"We didn't fight. But we're surrounded by Horde troops. Sooner or later, she'll tell someone, and they'll start looking for us."

"Oh. Do we need better disguises?"

Seacat shrugged. "Our disguises should be fine. But I'd prefer to leave while everyone is still distracted by the burning yard."

Entrapta nodded. "That's a good idea. Do we take the bombs with us?"

Seacat froze on the way to the door. "The bombs?"

"The bombs Bow and I took from Hordak's workshop," Entrapta explained. "We put them on the cart there."

Seacat hadn't paid much attention to the cart covered with a tarp. Obviously, that had been a mistake. "How many bombs did you take?"

"Just two - we couldn't handle more with one cart." Entrapta beamed at her. "But we took the two most advanced!"

Most advanced? "How powerful are those bombs?"

"We took them because one of them should've been enough to destroy the shipyard. We didn't know you'd set it on fire."

"And you have two of them."

"I wanted to study the other. The advancements Hordak made are fascinating!"

Seacat felt the fur on her neck bristle. Right. Another reason to get the rest of their group and get the hell out of the Fright Zone.

Preferably without any bomb.

"Alright," she said. "I'll go look for the others."

Of course, that was the moment the door was opened, and Brain Boy entered, followed by the Captain and Mermista.

"Seacat! What happened?" The captain blurted out as he rushed towards her.

"Hordak and Shadow Weaver are dead. But Adora got hurt and exhausted herself healing me," Seacat reported, as professionally as she could. "And the Horde princess is aware that we're in the Fright Zone. We should leave at once. Before they rally."

"Yes," Mermista agreed while she looked Seacat over.

"I'm fine," Seacat told her. "Adora healed me." She winced at the frown that appeared on Mermista's face. "It wasn't too bad," she added, but it was clear neither the Captain nor Mermista believed her.

Brain Boy was already checking Adora. Seacat bit her lower lip. She had checked her lover already. Several times. But she wasn't a trained Healer. Neither was Brain Boy, though he should have some training with magic, as Glimmer's childhood friend.

"Looks like exhaustion," he said. "The rest seem to be non-life-threatening wounds and bruises."

"And what about Glimmer?"

He looked grimmer for a moment. "Concussion. I hoped Adora would be able to heal her, but…"

"She needs to recover first," Seacat finished for him. None of them mentioned that being unconscious from a blow to the head wasn't a good thing.

"And Glimmer's responsive. Sort of," Entrapta said with a smile. "She groans if you poke her."

"Good." Brain Boy nodded, but anyone except for Entrapta would've been able to tell that he wasn't entirely honest.

"We need to leave," Seacat said. "Before the Horde gets their act together. And I've got a distraction in mind already."

"Oh?" Brain Boy looked at her.

"But we might need to sacrifice some of your loot for it."

She saw his eyes widen when he got what she was planning.

"This is the Princess Alliance speaking," Mermista's voice rang out over the Fright Zone again as the cart carrying Seacat and her friends approached the gate leading out of the core area. "Hordak and Shadow Weaver are dead. We've taken control of the enhanced engine bombs and will be detonating them in an hour!"

"Ugh." Mermista herself scowled. "I sound like an idiot."

"You sound marvellous, my love," Sea Hawk told her. "Magnificent! Determined! Impressive!"

"I sound like an idiot because we're giving the Horde advance warning. We could've just set the bombs to blow up the laboratory and most of the plants."

"But then we wouldn't have had this distraction." Brain Boy pointed at the road ahead - filled with Horde soldiers fleeing the area. "The guards would've tried to stop us."

"We would've killed more Horde soldiers, though," Mermista retorted. "And we wouldn't have almost got stuck behind some wagon with a broken axle."

Well, they had cleared that obstacle quickly enough, but if there had been a serious blockade… That was the trouble with timed explosions: Once you set the timer, you better hope that you can get clear in time.

"But aren't the Horde soldiers beaten already?" Entrapta asked.

"This is the Princess Alliance speaking. Hordak and Shadow Weaver are dead. We've taken control of the enhanced engine bombs and will be detonating them in an hour!"

"As an army, probably. But they'll turn to banditry and piracy," Mermista said. "We'll have a lot of trouble keeping them out of our lands."

"The Fright Zone might turn into another lawless land like the Crimson Waste," Brain Boy said. "Though it's better than an organised army trying to conquer everything."

They had reached the gate now. The guards there had fled already, or so it seemed. Or they had gone looting whatever they could while every Horde scum was trying to flee. There was always an idiot who tried to get into the hold of a sinking ship, thinking they'd get out in time with some treasure.

"Make way for the wounded! Get out of the way! Don't make me push you out of the way!"

Damn. That was a familiar voice Seacat could've done without hearing again for a great long while. "That's the Horde princess!" she hissed. Glancing over her shoulder, she could see the massive woman clearing a path for what looked like a giant covered wagon.

"Get out of the way!"

"We're kinda in the way," Brain Boy commented.

"But we're carrying wounded as well," Entrapta pointed out.

"I doubt she'll care," Seacat said. "We're the enemy, after all."

"Let's get out of the way, then," Brain Boy said, guiding the cart to the side.

"And hide your faces!" Seacat added in a hiss. "We don't want her to recognise us!"

The last thing they needed was a fight in the middle of the fleeing Horde.

But the big woman parted the crowd and led the large wagon - the sides sported the badge of the Horde Infirmary - through.

Seacat relaxed. One volley dodged.

"Hey!"

Or not. She clenched her teeth as the Horde princess left the wagon and turned back towards them.

"You've got wounded on your cart? Do you need help? Are there others who need to be evacuated?"

Before anyone could reply, the Horde woman was at their cart, peering at Adora and Glimmer. "I can help you…" She trailed off, staring at the two, then at the rest of the group.

"Hi?" Entrapta said, waving at her.

"You!" The princess stared at Seacat.

"Me, yes," Seacat replied. "We're evacuating the wounded."

"You did this! You're trying to kill us all!"

Oh, no! "If we wanted to kill you, would we have given you a warning?" Seacat retorted, looking around if anyone was paying attention. Fortunately, it seemed as if the Horde scum were too busy trying to escape.

"This is the Princess Alliance speaking. Hordak and Shadow Weaver are dead. We've taken control of the enhanced engine bombs and will be detonating them in an hour!"

Entrapta's bots had remarkably bad timing, Seacat realised, as the Horde princess's scowl grew even deeper.

"We wouldn't have warned you if we wanted to kill you all," Brain boy quickly said. "And we didn't plant bombs in your infirmaries. Or your barracks. Just the plants and Hordak's laboratory."

They'd had to prioritise, of course. And they didn't have unlimited bombs, either. But that wasn't something the Horde princess needed to know.

"That will still destroy the Horde!"

Seacat wasn't the only one staring at the bug princess.

"That's, uh, kind of the point," Brain Boy said. "We want to ensure that whoever is replacing Hordak can't keep waging war on the Alliance."

"Oh. I guess you would."

Seacat revised her estimate of the princess's intelligence a little further downwards, even accounting for the fact that she was currently very stressed. "So… do you want to start a fight here?" She cocked her head. "In the middle of the road, with all the wounded around? Against princesses?"

That earned her a glare from the Horde scum. "Are you threatening to hurt the wounded?"

Seacat held her ground. "We're not the ones who blow up their own soldiers to hurt the enemy."

"No, you're blowing up my home!"

"Only parts of it," Brain Boy said. "And we warned you."

"And you tried to blow up our homes," Mermista added with a deep scowl.

Seacat glanced around. A few soldiers were watching them, but the vast majority of the Horde scum were still streaming past, fleeing the area.

The Horde princess stared at them. Seacat stared back.

But after a few more seconds, the princess backed down and stepped to the side.

Brain Boy sighed audibly and urged their wagon on.

Seacat didn't relax until they had gained enough distance to lose sight of the bug princess.

They were still on the road filled with Horde scum when the enhanced engine bombs went off. Even from so far away, they could hear the explosions and see the smoke clouds, illuminated by the fire below, rise over the Fright Zone like a giant mushroom.

Seacat hissed through her teeth at the sight. That was… she had seen enhanced engine bomb explosions before, but nothing like this.

"So, my theories were correct," Entrapta said. "The bombs were advanced models, so the force of the blast was much bigger than a normal enhanced engine bomb detonating. The shape of the smoke cloud is distinctive - I think."

Seacat glanced around, but no one was paying attention to them. Everyone was staring at the cloud.

"This is fascinating. I wish we had taken one of the bombs with us!"

"This is horrible," Brai Boy said. "That blast must have destroyed most of the zone there."

"Yes? Wasn't that the point?" Entrapta looked confused.

"Imagine someone using such a bomb in a town!"

"Well, it would destroy the town - the average town is much smaller than the urban areas of the Fright Zone," Entrapta said. Then she blinked. "Oh. You mean without warning the population."

"Yes."

Seacat padded the shoulder of the princess. "We're not going to do that. No one is going to do that." She hoped she wasn't lying.

"We'll have to control fuel crystals very, very tightly," Mermista said. "If someone else manages to build such a bomb…"

Seacat shuddered at the thought.

Adora started to stir about an hour later, when they were on a smaller road leading north, without Horde scum nearby. Seacat heard her groan softly. She immediately left Sea Hawk to steer the cart and scrambled to Adora's side. "Adora!"

"Ngh?" Her lover was blinking, her mouth half-open.

"Adora!"

Her eyes focused on Seacat. "Ca-Seacat?"

"Yes." Seacat beamed at her. She was awake. Back. Alive.

"What… where are we?"

"We've left the Fright Zone's core lands and we're on the way back to Alliance lands," Seacat told her.

"Did… did we win?"

"Hordak and Shadow Weaver are dead."

"Oh." More blinking.

"And we blew up Hordak's laboratory, his plants, and most of the Fright Zone's buildings," Seacat told her.

"We did?"

"We warned the Horde beforehand, so they evacuated," Bow added.

"Ah." Adora looked relieved. A little bit. "Is everyone alright?"

Seacat pressed her lips together. "Ah…"

"Glimmer got hurt. She's stable, but…" Bow said.

"Oh, no!" Adora sat up. "Glimmer! Where is my sword?"

"Adora, wait!"

But Seacat's lover had grabbed her magic sword already - who had left it at her side? - and pointed it at Glimmer. A moment later, magic energy shot out of the tip and hit the princess.

And Adora collapsed. Seacat barely managed to grab her before she hit her head on the cart and glared at her unconscious lover.

"You bloody idiot!" she screeched.

"Huh? What happened? Bow!"

And Glimmer jumped up in the cart, looking around like a cornered seal for a moment.

"It's alright, Glimmer!" Bow blurted out. "We're out of the Fright Zone. Hordak and Shadow Weaver are dead. And the airship's been destroyed."

"With most of the Fright Zone," Mermista added.

"We won?" Glimmer started to smile. Then she saw Adora. "Adora!"

"Don't bother," Seacat told her. "The idiot woke up and exhausted herself straight away healing you. She won't wake up for hours now."

And then Seacat would kill her! So Adora wouldn't do something so incredibly stupid again! Really! To wake up, just to knock herself out again!

"Oh." Glimmer still looked confused. Then she frowned. "I missed the whole fight?"

"All of us missed it except for Adora and Seacat," Bow said. "You got knocked out before you could teleport the rest of us, so we couldn't join them in Hordak's office - and we had to fight our way out when the airship started burning."

"Burning?" Glimmer gasped.

"The whole yard went up in flames while we fought," Seacat explained. "Shadow Weaver left us with Hordak, and Hordak fled as well. We found them at the runestone, fighting each other. Adora killed Hordak but got knocked out herself, and Shadow Weaver…" She hesitated.

"Did you kill her?" Glimmer asked.

"She killed herself when she linked herself to the Black Garnet. The magic was too much - the lightning turned her to ash," Seacat said.

"Ah." Glimmer and Bow exchanged glances.

As did Seacat and Mermista, who had joined Sea Hawk at the front of the cart.

"Did she ground herself?" Entrapta asked.

"I don't think so," Seacat replied. "It looked like magical lightning."

"Oh. That's different."

"Hordak's armour was immune to it," Seacat added, trying to change the topic. "No matter what she threw at him, it didn't hurt him."

"Oh! Lightning-proof armour?" Entrapta cheered up. "I'll have to look into that!"

Well, it was safer than creating more powerful bombs.

Seacat sighed as she cradled Adora's head in her lap and leaned back, ignoring Glimmer and Bow all but crawling into each other's lap and how they whispered.

At least it was over.

Mostly.

"Seacat?"

Seacat blinked and looked around as she sat up. That was… "Adora!"

"Good morning," her stupid lover said, smiling at her from where she was sitting on her blanket.

"Morning?" Seacat looked up. It was barely noon.

"Technically. I think," Adora said. "So, we made camp?"

Seacat rolled her eyes. That much should've been obvious. "What clued you in? The tents we pitched?" Her lover pouted, and Seacat scoffed. "We're on the way to the Whispering Woods."

"As planned."

"Yes. And speaking of planned…" Seacat gathered her thoughts to give her lover a piece of her mind about reckless healing. But then, Adora stretched, and Seacat kind of got distracted. That was… "...unfair," she muttered.

"Hm?" Adora smiled innocently, but she wasn't good enough to fool Seacat.

"I know what you're trying to do, and it won't work," she whispered.

"Oh?"

"You're trying to distract me so I won't yell at you."

"Most of the others are sleeping," Adora pointed out. "Yelling at me would wake them up."

"Then they can also yell at you."

Adora flinched. "I'm sorry for… worrying you."

"For exhausting yourself while you're wounded?" Seacat crossed her arms over her chest.

"That, too." Adora shook her head. "But I couldn't let Glimmer keep suffering!"

"You could've waited a moment, at least," Seacat pointed out. "We might've needed you being able to walk." If the bug princess had attacked them or ordered Horde troops to attack… well, the troops on the road hadn't looked as if they would attack anyone, least of all a group of princesses.

"Sorry."

Seacat sighed. "Just don't do it again."

"Healing?"

"Recklessly endangering yourself without checking what's going on, first," Seacat corrected her.

"Ah." Adora bit her lower lip. "I think I can do that."

"Of course you can!" It wasn't a question of ability!

"I'll try, then."

That was probably the best Seacat could get. At least now. She didn't like it, though. Sighing again, she reached out and hugged her lover. "You really worried me," she whispered.

"So did you," Adora told her.

Seacat ignored that. They hadn't had any choice. Unlike Adora's latest stunt.

"So, how's Glimmer?"

"She's fine. And with Bow."

"Oh, right." Adora smiled. "So… we've won."

"Pretty much, yes." Seacat shrugged. The war wasn't over, but the Horde was done for. The Horde wouldn't last much longer, not after losing their leaders, their bombs and their airship. The Horde scum, though? Dealing with them might take longer. Many of them would become pirates and bandits.

"So…" Adora bit her lower lip again. "What are you planning to do now?"

Oh, that question. Seacat blinked. "The war's not over," she said. "There's still the Horde armies to deal with. And the Horde ships."

"Ah." Adora nodded. "So, that'll take a while."

"Yes."

Her lover nodded again.

Damn, this was awkward. Seacat was supposed to scold Adora, not… avoid talking to her about their future.

But this probably wasn't the time nor the place to discuss this.

Seacat sighed and hugged Adora again, then slid in her lap. Her lover was back. Everything else could wait.

"News of Hordak's death must have travelled fast," Bow commented as they looked at the deserted remains of a Horde checkpoint they had passed on their way to the Fright Zone. Back then, it had been manned by a squad. Now...

Now, it was not just deserted but looted to the bedrock. So to speak - everything that had been portable had disappeared, and the rest had been set on fire. That wasn't a good sign.

"Something wrong?" Entrapta asked. "Isn't it a good thing that the Horde soldiers stationed here deserted?"

"Where did they go?" Seacat asked. "And why did they burn down the post?"

"That's standard Horde tactics," Adora explained. "You aren't supposed to leave anything useful to the enemy."

"Scorched earth," Bow added. "The Alliance did the same in some campaigns."

Seacat frowned. "In any case, if they continue such habits, then there'll be a huge problem with bandits and raiders. And pirates, but those can be dealt with more easily."

"The Salinean Navy will sweep them from the seas!" Sea Hawk announced. "Huzzah!"

"And hang them," Mermista added.

"Won't that drive them to fight to the death?" Entrapta asked. "That's why we take prisoners, isn't it?"

"Pirates aren't soldiers; they're criminal scum," Mermista said.

"As opposed to Horde scum," Seacat added. "But rooting out the bandits - bandits with military training, experience and supplies - will be harder." Though not impossible.

"We'll manage," Glimmer said. "We still have an army. If we can beat the Horde, we can beat its remnants."

"But the Alliance might dissolve, with the Horde gone," Bow retorted.

"Salineas will stay in the Alliance," Mermista announced. "No matter what the other kingdoms might decide."

Though they would be busy hunting down pirates, Seacat knew. That couldn't be helped.

"I don't think Perfuma will quit, either," Adora said.

"She was pretty isolationist before the Horde attacked Plumeria," Glimmer pointed out.

"But now she knows what is at stake," Adora retorted. "And she's a friend."

"I'll stay as well!" Entrapta announced. "And my bots! If they want to."

That would help a lot with patrolling some areas. But Etheria would still be quite a lot more dangerous for the next few years. Especially the areas near the Crimson Waste.

Then Seacat realised that Adora hadn't said anything about fighting on herself. And was staring at her.

Oh.

They probably needed to have that talk sooner than Seacat had expected.

But not right now.

"Let's go on." She pointed north. "Let's go home."